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Kevin Curren
Kevin Curren (1982).jpg
Curren in 1982
Country (sports) South Africa South Africa
 United States (1985-)
Residence Austin, Texas
Born (1958-03-02) 2 March 1958 (age 66)
Durban, Natal, South Africa
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro 1979
Retired 1993
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $3,055,510
Singles
Career record 339–234
Career titles 5
Highest ranking No. 5 (22 July 1985)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open F (1984)
French Open 2R (1992)
Wimbledon F (1985)
US Open 4R (1981, 1990)
Other tournaments
WCT Finals SF (1984)
Doubles
Career record 430–249
Career titles 26
Highest ranking No. 3 (3 January 1983)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open SF (1981)
French Open QF (1984)
Wimbledon SF (1982, 1983)
US Open W (1982)
Mixed doubles
Career titles 3
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon W (1982)
US Open W (1981, 1982)

Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1985. During his career he won 5 singles and 16 doubles titles.

Personal life

Curren was born in South Africa, and he became a naturalized American citizen in April 1985.

Tennis career

Curren played both tennis and cricket at Glenwood High School in Durban. He also quickly rose among the ranks as a junior at Montclair Lawn Tennis Club in Montclair, Durban. At college he played tennis for the University of Texas at Austin in the United States and won the NCAA singles title in 1979. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1981 in Johannesburg.

In 1983, Curren reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, beating defending champion, Jimmy Connors in the fourth round, snapping Connors' streak of 27 consecutive major quarterfinals appearances. It went on to be his only 4th round loss in 35 Grand Slam tournaments appearances. Curren lost to unseeded New Zealander Chris Lewis in a five-set semifinal match which allowed Lewis to become only the seventh unseeded player to reach the Wimbledon final. In 1984, Curren played Mats Wilander in the final of the Australian Open, after making a comeback from two sets down to defeat Ben Testerman in the semifinals. Wilander won the match, played on the grass courts at Kooyong, in four sets.

In 1985, after becoming an American citizen, Curren reached the final at Wimbledon with the help of coaching from Tony Roche. After defeating Larry Stefanki, Mike De Palmer, David Mustard and then future champion Stefan Edberg in the fourth round in straight sets, he eliminated the then-world No. 1, John McEnroe, in the quarterfinals, and world No. 3 Jimmy Connors, in the semifinals. Curren was the first player to beat both American players in the same Grand Slam event. McEnroe commented that he felt overpowered and later that he had difficulty in dealing with Curren's highly individualistic and very fast serving, which, in its low toss, was hard to read and tended to produce low balls that skipped on the grass courts of the time. In the final, he lost in four sets to Boris Becker, in a match best remembered for making the 17-year-old Becker the youngest male Grand Slam champion (a record which was later eclipsed by Michael Chang in 1989 at the French Open). The final was intense, and Becker sent several hostile glares to Curren before and after points. On one of the final change-overs, Becker bumped Curren's shoulder as they passed one another. After his defeat, Curren was noted as saying that he thought the game would see an increase in the number of successful young players and predicted that they would have more intense, but shorter careers. Curren was the last American man to reach the final at Wimbledon until Andre Agassi did so seven years later in 1992.

Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Curren did win four Grand Slam doubles titles. In 1981, he won the US Open mixed doubles, and in 1982 he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles and both men's doubles and mixed doubles at the US Open. During his career, Curren won five top-level singles titles and 26 doubles titles. His career-high rankings were world No. 5 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles. His final career singles title came in 1989 at Frankfurt, and his last doubles title was won in 1992 in Seoul. Curren retired from the professional tour in 1993.

Since retiring from the tour, Curren has served as captain of the South Africa Davis Cup team.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1984 Australian Open Grass Sweden Mats Wilander 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Loss 1985 Wimbledon Grass West Germany Boris Becker 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–7(3–7), 4–6

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1982 US Open Hard United States Steve Denton United States Victor Amaya
United States Hank Pfister
6–2, 6–7(4–7), 5–7, 6–2, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 3 (3 titles)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1981 US Open Hard United States Anne Smith United States JoAnne Russell
United States Steve Denton
6–4, 7–6
Win 1982 Wimbledon Grass United States Anne Smith Australia Wendy Turnbull
United Kingdom John Lloyd
2–6, 6–3, 7–5
Win 1982 US Open Hard United States Anne Smith United States Barbara Potter
United States Ferdi Taygan
6–7, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)

ATP career finals

Singles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Apr 1981 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard South Africa Bernard Mitton 6–4, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Sep 1982 Los Angeles-2 WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–7(5–7), 5–7, 1–6
Loss 1–2 Oct 1982 Amsterdam WCT, Netherlands Carpet (i) Poland Wojtek Fibak 5–7, 6–3, 4–6, 3–6
Win 2–2 Nov 1982 Cologne, West Germany Carpet (i) Israel Shlomo Glickstein 2–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss 2–3 Mar 1983 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 7–5, 3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 2–4 Dec 1984 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Sweden Mats Wilander 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Win 3–4 Feb 1985 Toronto, Canada Carpet (i) Sweden Anders Järryd 7–6(8–6), 6–3
Loss 3–5 Mar 1985 Houston WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) United States John McEnroe 5–7, 1–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 3–6 Jul 1985 Wimbledon, U.K. Grass West Germany Boris Becker 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–7(3–7), 4–6
Win 4–6 Apr 1986 Atlanta, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Tim Wilkison 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–2)
Loss 4–7 Oct 1986 Scottsdale, U.S. Hard United States John McEnroe 3–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss 4–8 Aug 1988 Toronto, Canada Hard Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–7(10–12), 2–6
Win 5–8 Oct 1989 Frankfurt, West Germany Carpet (i) Czechoslovakia Petr Korda 6–2, 7–5

Doubles: 53 (26 titles, 27 runner-ups)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. 1980 Denver, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Poland Wojtek Fibak
Switzerland Heinz Günthardt
7–5, 6–2
Loss 1. 1980 Washington D.C., U.S. Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton United States Ferdi Taygan
United States Brian Teacher
6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Loss 2. 1980 North Conway, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton United States Jimmy Connors
United States Brian Gottfried
6–7, 3–6
Win 2. 1980 Indianapolis, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton Poland Wojtek Fibak
Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl
3–6, 7–6, 6–4
Win 3. 1980 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) United States Steve Denton South Africa Bob Hewitt
South Africa Frew McMillan
6–7, 6–4, 6–4
Win 4. 1981 Monterrey WCT, Mexico Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton South Africa Johan Kriek
New Zealand Russell Simpson
7–6, 6–3
Loss 3. 1981 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton United States Sandy Mayer
South Africa Frew McMillan
6–4, 3–6, 3–6
Loss 4. 1981 Queen's Club, U.K. Grass United States Steve Denton United States Pat DuPré
United States Brian Teacher
6–3, 6–7, 9–11
Loss 5. 1981 Newport, U.S. Grass United States Billy Martin Australia Brad Drewett
United States Erik van Dillen
2–6, 4–6
Win 5. 1981 Indianapolis, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton Mexico Raúl Ramírez
United States Van Winitsky
6–3, 5–7, 7–5
Win 6. 1981 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) United States Steve Denton United States Sherwood Stewart
United States Ferdi Taygan
6–7, 6–4, 6–0
Loss 6. 1982 Masters Doubles WCT, London Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Switzerland Heinz Günthardt
Hungary Balázs Taróczy
7–6, 3–6, 5–7, 4–6
Win 7. 1982 Denver, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Australia Phil Dent
Australia Kim Warwick
6–4, 6–4
Win 8. 1982 Memphis, U.S. Hard (i) United States Steve Denton United States Peter Fleming
United States John McEnroe
7–6, 4–6, 6–2
Loss 7. 1982 Munich WCT, West Germany Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Australia Mark Edmondson
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
6–4, 5–7, 2–6
Loss 8. 1982 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) United States Fritz Buehning Australia Mark Edmondson
United States Sherwood Stewart
5–7, 2–6
Win 9. 1982 Houston, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton Australia Mark Edmondson
Australia Peter McNamara
7–5, 6–4
Win 10. 1982 US Open, New York Hard United States Steve Denton United States Victor Amaya
United States Hank Pfister
6–2, 6–7, 5–7, 6–2, 6–4
Win 11. 1982 Los Angeles-2 WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Hank Pfister United States Andy Andrews
United States Drew Gitlin
4–6, 6–2, 7–5
Loss 9. 1982 Amsterdam WCT, Netherlands Carpet (i) United Kingdom Buster Mottram United States Fritz Buehning
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
6–4, 3–6, 0–6
Win 12. 1983 Philadelphia, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton United States Peter Fleming
United States John McEnroe
6–4, 7–6
Win 13. 1983 Munich WCT, West Germany Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Switzerland Heinz Günthardt
Hungary Balázs Taróczy
7–5, 2–6, 6–1
Win 14. 1983 Houston WCT, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton United States Mark Dickson
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
7–6, 6–7, 6–1
Win 15. 1983 Las Vegas, U.S. Hard United States Steve Denton United States Tracy Delatte
United States Johan Kriek
6–3, 7–5
Loss 10. 1983 Forest Hills WCT, U.S. Clay United States Steve Denton United States Tracy Delatte
United States Johan Kriek
7–6, 5–7, 3–6
Loss 11. 1983 Queen's Club, U.K. Grass United States Steve Denton United States Brian Gottfried
Australia Paul McNamee
4–6, 3–6
Loss 12. 1984 Richmond WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton United States John McEnroe
United States Patrick McEnroe
6–7, 2–6
Loss 13. 1984 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton United States Tim Gullikson
United States Tom Gullikson
4–6, 7–6, 6–7
Win 16. 1984 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) Poland Wojtek Fibak United States Fritz Buehning
United States Ferdi Taygan
6–4, 6–4
Loss 14. 1984 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) United States Steve Denton Czechoslovakia Pavel Složil
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
4–6, 3–6
Loss 15. 1985 Memphis, U.S. Hard (i) United States Steve Denton Czechoslovakia Pavel Složil
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
6–1, 3–6, 4–6
Loss 16. 1985 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Poland Wojtek Fibak Sweden Stefan Edberg
Sweden Anders Järryd
3–6, 6–7
Win 17. 1986 Queen's Club, U.K. Grass France Guy Forget Australia Darren Cahill
Australia Mark Kratzmann
6–2, 7–6
Win 18. 1987 Tokyo Outdoor, Japan Hard United States Paul Annacone Ecuador Andrés Gómez
Sweden Anders Järryd
6–4, 7–6
Win 19. 1987 Los Angeles, U.S. Hard United States David Pate United States Brad Gilbert
United States Tim Wilkison
6–3, 6–4
Win 20. 1987 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard (i) United States David Pate United States Eric Korita
United States Brad Pearce
6–4, 6–4
Win 21. 1988 Memphis, U.S. Hard (i) United States David Pate Sweden Peter Lundgren
Sweden Mikael Pernfors
6–2, 6–2
Loss 17. 1988 Philadelphia, U.S. Carpet (i) South Africa Danie Visser New Zealand Kelly Evernden
United States Johan Kriek
6–7, 3–6
Loss 18. 1988 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd Austria Alex Antonitsch
Hungary Balázs Taróczy
6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Win 22. 1988 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) United States Jim Grabb United States Paul Annacone
Australia John Fitzgerald
7–5, 7–5
Win 23. 1988 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard (i) United States David Pate South Africa Gary Muller
United States Tim Wilkison
7–6, 6–4
Loss 19. 1989 Indian Wells, U.S. Hard United States David Pate West Germany Boris Becker
Switzerland Jakob Hlasek
6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Loss 20. 1989 Tokyo Outdoor, Japan Hard United States David Pate United States Ken Flach
United States Robert Seguso
4–6, 4–6
Win 24. 1989 Tokyo Indoor, Japan Carpet (i) United States David Pate Ecuador Andrés Gómez
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Živojinović
4–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss 21. 1989 Frankfurt, West Germany Carpet (i) West Germany Eric Jelen South Africa Pieter Aldrich
South Africa Danie Visser
6–7, 7–6, 3–6
Loss 22. 1989 Wembley, U.K. Carpet (i) United Kingdom Jeremy Bates Switzerland Jakob Hlasek
United States John McEnroe
1–6, 6–7
Loss 23. 1990 Toronto Indoor, Canada Carpet (i) South Africa Neil Broad United States Patrick Galbraith
Australia David Macpherson
6–2, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 24. 1990 Hong Kong, UK Hard United States Joey Rive Australia Pat Cash
Australia Wally Masur
3–6, 3–6
Win 25. 1990 Queen's Club, U.K. Grass United Kingdom Jeremy Bates France Henri Leconte
Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl
6–2, 7–6
Loss 25. 1990 West Berlin, West Germany Carpet (i) United States Patrick Galbraith South Africa Pieter Aldrich
South Africa Danie Visser
6–7, 6–7
Loss 26. 1991 Lyon, France Hard (i) United Kingdom Jeremy Bates United States Steve DeVries
Australia David Macpherson
6–7, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 27. 1992 Memphis, U.S. Hard (i) South Africa Gary Muller Australia Todd Woodbridge
Australia Mark Woodforde
5–7, 6–4, 6–7
Win 26. 1992 Seoul, South Korea Hard South Africa Gary Muller New Zealand Kelly Evernden
United States Brad Pearce
7–6, 6–4

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
South Africa United States
Tournament 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 SR W–L
Australian Open A A A 2R A A F A NH 3R A A A A A 0 / 3 9–3
French Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 2R 0 / 1 1–1
Wimbledon A A 4R 2R 3R SF 4R F 1R 2R 1R 3R QF 2R 1R 0 / 13 28–13
US Open 2R 2R A 4R 1R A 2R 1R 2R A 2R A 4R 2R 1R 0 / 11 12–11
Win–loss 1–1 1–1 3–1 5–3 2–2 5–1 10–3 6–2 1–2 3–2 1–2 2–1 7–2 2–2 1–3 0 / 28 50–28

See also

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